Anghiari is a small picturesque town in Tuscany, which huddles on the slope of a steep hill. In the distance you can see the city of Sansepolcro - the birthplace of the great genius Pietro della Francesca. Between the two settlements there is a wide plain, the valley of the young Tiber, the path of the famous river begins nearby. It was in this valley between the two cities that the Battle of Anghiari took place on June 29, 1440. She became part of the Lombard Wars between the Italian League and Milan.
Modern view of Anghiari
During the first half of the 15th century, wars did not stop in northern Italy. Milan increased its power, he tried to conquer small independent cities in Lombardy and Tuscany. He was opposed by powerful Venice and Florence. To wage war, the cities hired condottieri - military leaders with their armies. They were paid huge salaries.
In the 15th century, wars almost did not stop in northern Italy.
In 1440, after a series of conflicts, Milan found itself in an extremely unpleasant situation: the troops of the Duke of Visconti suffered several painful defeats. The famous condottiere Niccolo Piccini, who fought on the side of Milan, was ordered to leave Tuscany to the north - to Lombardy. At this moment, the glorious warrior learns that very close - at Anghiari - is the army of the League. Outnumbered and with the surprise factor, Niccolò decided to try his luck and attack. Moreover, in Borgo Sansepolcro, another 2 thousand citizens joined him in the hope of reaping the fruits of a future victory.
Niccolo Piccini
The League soldiers were completely unprepared for battle. They expected the enemy to retreat, and hoped to win the war for Tuscany without a single swing of the sword. Another condottiere commanded the army - Micheletto Attendolo. Under his command were 300 Venetian cavalry, 4,000 Florentine infantry, and the same number of papal soldiers. By some miracle, Micheletto noticed clouds of dust in the distance, realized that this was an enemy, and very quickly managed to build up his fighters.
Micheletto Attendolo was very lucky - he noticed the approach of the enemy
As a result, the soldiers clashed right on the bridge over the Tiber. Detailed description the battles left Machiavelli, although he did it a few decades later: “Micheletto valiantly withstood the onslaught of the first enemy detachments and even pressed them, but Piccini, approaching with selected troops, attacked Micheletto so fiercely that he captured the bridge, and threw him back to the very ascent to the city of Anghiari. After that, the Florentines and papal soldiers "hard" hit Piccini's troops from both flanks and pushed him back over the bridge. “This fight lasted two hours, and the bridge changed hands all the time,” writes Machiavelli.
Micheletto Attendolo's decisive attack at the Battle of San Romano, part of the Triptych Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello. Louvre, Paris
But an equal battle was only for the bridge. Elsewhere the Milanese failed. The fact is that as soon as they crossed over to the side of the enemy, they were met by a large army, which, thanks to its favorable location on the plain, constantly put forward fresh fighters. It was very convenient to change positions. When the Florentines crossed the bridge, Niccolo could not quickly send help because of a large number ditches and potholes on the road. The enemy left them in advance.
As a result of the battle, only one rider died, accidentally falling from his horse.
“It so happened that every time Niccolo’s soldiers crossed the bridge, they were immediately driven back by fresh enemy forces. Finally, the Florentines firmly captured the bridge, and their troops were able to cross over to the wide road. The speed of their onslaught and the inconvenience of the terrain did not give Niccolo time to support his fresh help, so that those who were in front mixed up with those coming behind, confusion arose, and the whole army was forced to take flight, and everyone was already about nothing but salvation, without thinking, he rushed towards Borgo ... ”, - describes the situation of Machiavelli.
Florentine soldiers took thousands of people prisoner, seized carts, banners, horses and weapons. In the description of Machiavelli, the battle seems grandiose, fantasy draws dozens of horsemen who died on the bridge for several hours. But the outcome of the battle was somewhat different. There was only one victim - the knight unsuccessfully fell from his horse and broke his spine. Nobody else died. This can be explained by the fact that the warriors at that time wore very powerful armor and it was extremely difficult to injure each other.
Hall of Five Hundred. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
At the same time, this defeat was not significant for Milan. Losses in weapons and horses could be easily restored, and prisoners could be redeemed. In the meantime, if Florence had lost, then most likely, she would have lost her control over Tuscany. The joy of Victoria was such that 60 years later the Florentine Gonfalonier Soderini commissioned a fresco from Leonardo da Vinci on the theme of the Battle of Anghiari. The master painted one of the walls in the Five Hundred Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio. Opposite him worked another genius - Michelangelo.
Peter Paul Rubens. Copy of the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci
Fresco for a long time was considered lost. Allegedly, Vasari left his painting instead. On the other hand, scientists have paid attention to a small inscription on Vasari's canvas, "the seeker shall find." A cavity was found behind his fresco. Some scholars suggest that it was there that Leonardo's masterpiece was preserved. However, no comprehensive studies have been conducted so far.
to the present detective story turned the search for a masterpiece Leonardo da Vinci. Fresco by Leonardo Battle of Anghiari lost forever, taking 500 years of history with it? Or is there hope that it has been preserved and will be opened?
April 1503, Florence. The Medici family was expelled from the city, and Florence became a Republic. It was necessary to strengthen this young Republic, new symbols were needed, and the head of Florence, Pier Soderini, invites two outstanding artists to sing the Republic. Michelangelo is 28 years old, 51 years old. On the walls of the Great Salon of the Five Hundred, the main Hall of the Communal Council in the Palazzo Vecchio Palace of Florence, two geniuses choose subjects that glorify the victorious battles of the troops of the Florentine Republic - the Battles of Anghiari and Cascine.
Two huge walls opposite each other, two geniuses, budding and mature, two different character: alert and ruffy, elegant and mysterious. One artist is distinguished by indefatigable diligence and commitment, the other by inconstancy and windiness. This grand commission was supposed to be a great competition between two geniuses, but it didn't work out... there was no winner or loser. Michelangelo prepared a sketch Battles of Kashin , and was recalled to Rome by the Pope. Leonardo conceived a huge field Battles of Anghiari , full of riders, fighting for the Banner, but leaves work and returns to Milan in May 1506.
Here is what Leonardo wrote about the beginning of work in his notes: “Today, June 6, 1505, Friday at 1 pm, I began to paint in the palace. As soon as he touched it with a brush, the weather turned bad, the cardboard tore, the bowl cracked, and water spilled, it became dark as at night, and until the evening there was a downpour of great water. Is this a “successful” beginning, an omen of the unfortunate fate of the work of a great artist?
Tavola Doria, Tokyo, sketch for the Battle of Anghiari worth 80 million euros
What happened between June 1505, when Leonardo began work on the fresco, and May 1506, when he left Florence? Where is it Battle of Anghiari , which the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini recognized as the "world school" of creativity? The last concrete fact of this detective is the existence of a fresco by Leonardo on the wall in 1549. The Florentine writer Anton Francesco Doni wrote in 1549 Florence guide, where it says: "Climb the stairs to the Great Hall and note the a group of horses and riders, which will seem to you a miracle". Further, the facts regarding the fresco by Leonardo are already running out. Battle of Anghiari and the speculation begins.
For several decades since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the walls of the Great Hall have been left unchanged. Meanwhile, the political situation in Florence has changed radically. The Florentine Republic was defeated, and the Medici dynasty, Cosimo I, returned to power. Naturally, his thoughts are turned to the Great Salon, it is necessary to turn it from a place of glorification of the Republic into the main hall, emphasizing the power and power of the Medici. 1555- , painter, architect and historian, receives an order from the ruler of Florence CosimoIMedici.
The order is grandiose, not only for decoration, but also for the reconstruction of the Great Hall of the Council of Five Hundred. The ceiling is raised by seven meters according to the Vasari project, and the hall acquires modern dimensions - a length of 54 meters, a width of 23 meters, a height of 18 meters. On the walls of the Salon Vasari solves the problem of what to do with the existing fresco by Leonardo - to destroy or save? This is not the first time Vasari has faced such a dilemma; he has already encountered the works Giotto and Masaccio, and chose Save. Could he do otherwise with the work of Leonardo, whom he admired, and destroy it?
The work of a genius undoubtedly delights Vasari, here is what he wrote in Biographies of the most famous painters about Battle of Anghiari . “... painted a group of horsemen fighting for a banner, a thing that was recognized as outstanding and executed with great skill ... in this image, people show the same rage, hatred and vindictiveness as horses, of which two are intertwined with their front legs and fight with their teeth with no less bitterness than their horsemen fighting for the banner; at the same time, one of the soldiers, clinging to him with his hands and leaning on him with his whole body, lets his horse gallop and, turning around ... grabs the flagpole, trying to force it out of the hands of the other four.
Two of them protect it each with one hand, and, raising their sword high with the other, they try to cut the shaft, while an old soldier in a red cap, with a yell, holds the shaft with one hand, and with the other, with the curved saber held high, prepares a furious blow, so that at once cut off both hands of those two who, gnashing their teeth, with a fierce look, are trying to defend their banner. I do not give you all the descriptions of Vasari, take into account that the chapter on Leonardo in his book occupies 9 pages, of which 1 page is entirely devoted only to the description Battles of Anghiari. Vasari makes it clear to us that he saw this fresco and thoroughly studied it up close, here is the gnashing of teeth, and the old soldier in a red hat, and ferocity, and bloodthirstiness, and “it is beyond words how Leonardo painted the clothes of soldiers.”
It is no coincidence that in Vasari's first work for the Old Palace Defeat Pisa at San Vincenzo numerous coincidences of poses, characters, swords, banners and horses. For comparison, we have copies of Battles of Anghiari (their authors were, then Unknown artist, whose work was engraved by Lorenzo Zaccia, and then by Rubens), but they could have been made not from a fresco, but from cardboard - a life-size sketch by Leonardo. Cosimo Medici also admired the work of Leonardo, to the point that in 1513 he pays to install wooden structures along the wall to protect the fresco from Spanish soldiers. The motive for the destruction of Leonardo's work is, firstly, political, it is impossible to leave evidence of the victory of the Republic over the Signoria Medici in the main representative Hall, and secondly, the state of the fresco. Vasari noted that “having decided to paint with oil on the wall, he (Leonardo) made up such a rough mixture to prepare the wall that, as he continued to paint this hall, it began to drain, and he quit work, seeing how it deteriorated.”
37 years old Italian engineer Maurizio Seracini looking for a fresco by Leonardo Battle of Anghiari . It is said that it was this enthusiastic scientist who served Dan Brown as the prototype of one of actors books The Da Vinci Code . There have been many opponents over the years, but there are also many supporters of the search, for example, Professor Carlo Pedretti, the world's leading expert on the work of Leonardo da Vinci. They are both sure that Vasari kept the masterpiece, and to this day it is in the Great Council Hall. There are grounds for optimism.
Vasari's hint on the flag "The seeker will find"
Vasari could well have saved Leonardo's work, and he left us a rebus on his work The Battle of Marciano on the east wall of the Grand Salon. Only one of the numerous images of the banners has an inscription, moreover, a mysterious one - "He who seeks, he will find." It is difficult to associate it with the battle or with the glorification of the Republic. The inscription is "wrong", it does not follow the wavy outline of the flag. An unforgivable mistake for Vasari, as if he wanted to draw attention to this green flag at the very top of the Battle, where no spectator could see it from below. Anaziz green paint banner and white paint inscriptions held in 1975. We came to the conclusion that both paints are of the same age, the inscription on the banner is not a later addition, but was also made by the author Vasari. Another extraordinary discovery when examining the walls of the hall with a radar and a television camera with infrared radiation - under this flag with the inscription there is empty space, i.e. there is a double wall. The next stage of research, after numerous approvals, passed from November 27 to December 2, 2011 at night so as not to interrupt the normal work of the Museum of the Old Palace of Florence. It was impossible to get close to the side of the studied space under the work of Vasari, because. it occupies the entire wall and ends with a cornice, the space behind is also closed by numerous buildings, rooms, etc. In addition, blindly creeping up from behind, you can damage Leonardo's fresco if it is inside behind the wall erected by Vasari for his Battles of Marciano . It was decided to drill microscopic holes in the wall, picking out areas of damage on the Vasari fresco or recent paints applied by the restorers so as not to damage it. Then launch the probe into the hole between the two walls. Naturally, the surface that was supposed to be examined was very extensive, and it was allowed to make several holes and analyzes. There was an opportunity to miss, and not get on Leonardo's fresco.
Composition Battles of Anghiari Leonardo was represented, but he helped with the sizes drawing from the Oxford Museum. Head drawing of a screaming old man unusual large sizes with small tattoos along the contour filled with charcoal. According to art historian Martin Kemp, this is not a copy, but piece of cardboard, which Leonardo used to work on the fresco. Prior to the enlargement of the Vasari wall, the size of the surface for Leonardo's work was 20 meters by 10 meters, and the dimensions of the head drawing presumably determined the dimensions of the entire fresco. Scientists knew that by the time of Vasari, only the central part remained from the fresco, so they were looking for a fragment measuring 5 by 4 meters on a surface of 12 by 14 meters. Marked 14 places for microscopic holes, where it could be preserved Battle of Anghiari . Of course, the places were not chosen optimal for discovering the hidden fresco, but those where the poor preservation of the sections of the Vasari fresco allowed this to be done. The very first hole and the probe determines what is behind the brick wall with the Vasari fresco Battle of Marciano air circulates, that is, there is a cavity, and the inner surface of another wall is 3 centimeters from the wall with the Vasari fresco. The enthusiasm of researchers can be imagined. But ... we are in Italy, and immediately the controversy turned into serious accusations of opponents of research: 60 holes were drilled, Vasari's work is endangered. The prosecutor's office opens the case, the investigations are stopped. Only 6 micro-holes were made, 6 analyzes were taken from the surface of the inner wall. After a month and a half, they were allowed to study in the laboratory.
Carlo Pedretti presented the results. As you understand, in the time of Leonardo there was no industrial production colors like now. Therefore, each artist used his own paints, and their composition of paints by Leonardo and Vasari is different. . Firstly, found traces of calcium carbonate, a composition that covers the entire investigated area of the surface of the inner wall, an organic material used as a primer. Second important discovery : the presence of an area of red color, pigment and binding substance, typical of wall painting. So, not a fresco, but a painting on the wall, exactly what Leonardo wanted to do, and what influenced the destruction of the work. The next important analysis showed on this red surface traces of black paint applied with a brush. The composition of this black paint caused euphoria to the researcher, because it has an unusual chemical ratio of manganese and iron compared to the normal one used by all artists. 2010 Louvre publication concerning studies of two works by Leonardo - Mona Lisa and John the Baptist , showed exactly the same composition of black paint in these works in relation to manganese and iron. Besides, Mona Lisa Leonardo is writing in Florence at the same time he is working on Battle of Anghiari . Evidence obtained: on the inner wall behind the wall with the Vasari fresco Battle of Marciano is a work by Leonardo. From historical documents it clearly follows that he wrote on this wall of the Great Council Hall in Florence. There is a painting, the colors match in composition with two works by Leonardo, according to the documents, it was he who painted on this wall. Gotta give credit Giorgio Vasari, envy did not win, did not destroy Leonardo's fresco, but found unusual way save it for posterity. Another question is what state Battle of Anghiari on an inside wall? Will we ever see her? How to open it without destroying Vasari's work? So far, there are no answers to these questions.
Some experts suspect that Leonardo's masterpiece may be hiding behind Vasari's fresco.
A scandal erupted in the art world in connection with the search for an unfinished fresco by Leonardo da Vinci, allegedly hiding behind one of the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio (Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence, which was later worked on by another eminent master- Giorgio Vasari
Palazzo Vecchio
More than five centuries ago, in the Palazzo Vecchio (city government building), in honor of the restoration of the Florentine Republic, it was decided to decorate the Great Council Hall with frescoes.
The fresco was commissioned by Gonfalonier Soderini to Leonardo da Vinci after the overthrow of the Medici dynasty and the expulsion of Piero Medici. The Medici are an oligarchic family whose representatives from the 13th to the 18th century repeatedly became the rulers of Florence. Among the representatives of the Medici family there are four popes - Leo X, Pius IV, Clement VII, Leo XI, and two queens of France - Catherine de Medici and Maria Medici.
Hall of the Great Council of the Palazzo Vecchio
The great Leonardo worked on the fresco in 1503-1506. In the autumn of 1503, a brilliant fifty-year-old artist, scientist and thinker set to work. Between 1503 and 1505, the master made cardboard, and in 1505 he started painting itself, which he left unfinished by the time of his second departure (May 30, 1506) to Milan.
One wall was commissioned to decorate Leonardo, already a world-famous artist, the other - Michelangelo. He is still young, but has already become famous thanks to the sculpture of David. Two artists, two rivals.
Leonardo chooses as a plot the battle of Anghiari, which took place on June 29, 1440 between the Florentine detachment and the Milanese troops under the command of the condottiere Niccolo Piccinino. Despite being outnumbered, the Milanese were defeated by a small detachment of Florentines. Although in the battle of 1440 between the Florentines and the Milanese about small town Anghiari killed only one person, this did not change Leonardo da Vinci's attitude to wars, which he called "the most brutal madness."
As conceived by the artist, the fresco was supposed to be his most ambitious work. In size (6.6 m x 17.4 m), it was three times larger than " last supper". Leonardo carefully prepared for the creation of the mural, studied the description of the battle and outlined his plan in a note presented to the Senoria. To work on cardboard (cardboard in painting - a drawing with charcoal or a pencil (or two pencils - white and black), made on paper or on a primed canvas, from which the picture is already painted with paints), which took place in the Papal Hall at the Church of Santa Maria- Novella, Leonardo designed special scaffolding that folded and unfolded, raising and lowering the artist to the required height. The central part of the fresco was occupied by one of the key moments of the battle - the battle of a group of horsemen for the banner.
Copies from cardboard for this fresco have been preserved. One of the best drawings is recognized as a drawing by Rubens, on which you can see one of the scenes of the fresco - the battle for the banner.
Drawing by Rubens
Human and horse bodies grappled into a single snake ball, the horses were furious, on the faces of people there was animal fury. Where are the Milanese, where are the Florentines, where are their own, where are strangers - it is not clear. There are no people in the picture, there are only horses and animals. No, this is not a glorification of military prowess, this is the embodied horror of war, which the artist himself hated.
In the center of Leonardo's composition (known from his sketches and copies from the central part apparently completed by that time) was an episode with a battle for the banner, where horsemen fiercely fight with swords, and fallen soldiers lie under the feet of their horses. Judging by other sketches, the composition should have consisted of three parts, with the battle for the banner in the center. Since there is no clear evidence, Leonardo's surviving paintings and fragments of his notes suggest that the battle was depicted against a flat landscape with a mountain range on the horizon.
A copy of the cardboard by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1503-1506) by Aristotle da Sangallo. Holkham Hall, Norfolk, UK.
Two great masters of that time worked on the decoration of the same hall for the only time. Everyone tried to shine strong point his gift. Leonardo entered into competition with the young Michelangelo, who was commissioned to paint the Battle of Kashin fresco for another wall in the same room. This fresco was supposed to show the Florentine warriors at the moment when, while bathing, they were suddenly attacked by the enemy.
Pierre Soderini, who at that time held the position of gonfaloniere, seeing great talent Michelangelo ordered him to paint another part of the same hall, which became the reason for his competition with Leonardo, in which he entered, taking up the painting of another wall on the theme of the Pisan War. To do this, Michelangelo received a room in the hospital of dyers at Sant Onofrio and set to work there on a huge cardboard, demanding, however, that no one see him. He filled it with naked bodies bathing on a hot day in the Arno River, but at that moment a battle alarm is heard in the camp, announcing an enemy attack; and while the soldiers climb out of the water to put on their clothes, the divine hand of Michelangelo showed how some arm themselves to help their comrades, others fasten their armor, many seize their weapons and countless others, having mounted their horses, are already entering the battle. Among other figures there was an old man, who put on his head a wreath of ivy; he sat down to pull on his trousers, but they did not come up, because his legs were wet after bathing, and, hearing the noise of battle and the shouts and roar of drums, he hastily pulled on one trousers with difficulty; and besides the fact that all the muscles and veins of his figure are visible, he twisted his mouth so that it was clear how he suffered and how tense he was all to the tips of his toes. There were drummers and people entangled in clothes and running naked into battle; and one could see there the most extraordinary situations: some standing, some falling on their knees, or bent over, or falling and, as it were, hanging in the air in the most difficult perspective. There were also many figures, united in groups and sketched in various manners: one outlined in charcoal, another drawn with strokes, and another shaded and highlighted with white - he so wanted to show everything that he could do in this art. That is why the artists were amazed and amazed when they saw the limit reached by the art shown to them by Michelangelo on this sheet. And now, looking at the figures so divine, some who have seen them say that of all that he and others have done, they have not seen anything like it so far and that no other talent in art can ever rise to such divinity.
When there was no supervision for the cardboard, it was torn into separate pieces.
Both cardboards were presented to the public for several months. Later, Benvenuto Cellini, who saw the cardboard when they were still intact, called the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo "a school for the whole world."
Despite the fact that the work to decorate the Palazzo Vecchio was never carried out (Michelangelo did not even start painting), two geniuses made a revolution in the development Western European painting, which led to the development of new styles - classicism and baroque. One of the first copies (a sketch in ink) from the original da Vinci cardboard belongs to Raphael and is kept in Oxford, in the University Gallery. The Uffizi has an unfinished copy, possibly owned by an amateur artist. According to Milanesi, it could have been used by Lorenzo Zaccia da Luca when creating an engraving in 1558 with the inscription: “ex tabella propria Leonard! Vincii manu picta opus sumptum a Laurentio Zaccia Lucensi ob eodemque nunc excussum, 1558." It is assumed that it was from the engraving of Zaccia around 1605 that Rubens made his drawing.
Leonardo continued his experiments with paint compositions and primer, which had begun during the creation of The Last Supper. There are various assumptions about the reasons for the destruction of the fresco, which began already in the process of work. According to Vasari, Leonardo painted on the wall with oil paints, and the painting began to dampen already in the process of work. An anonymous biographer of da Vinci says that he used Pliny's mixture recipe (encaustic wax painting) but misinterpreted it. The same anonymous author claims that the wall was unevenly dried: at the top it was damp, while at the bottom it dried out under the influence of charcoal braziers. Leonardo turned to wax paints, but some of the pigments soon simply evaporated. Leonardo, trying to remedy the situation, continued to work with oil paints. Paolo Giovio says that the plaster did not take a composition based on walnut oil. Due to technical difficulties, work on the fresco itself progressed slowly. There were problems of a material nature: the Council demanded either to provide finished work or return the money paid. Da Vinci's work was interrupted by his invitation to Milan in 1506 by the French governor Charles d'Amboise. The fresco was left unfinished.
Sketch for the "Battle of Anghiari"
However, neither frescoes nor cardboards, which received universal recognition contemporaries have not reached our days.
In 1555-1572 the Medici family decided to reconstruct the hall. Carried out the restructuring of Vasari with assistants. As a result, the work of Leonardo was lost - his place was taken by Vasari's fresco "Battle of Marciano" (Battaglia di Marciano).
Allegorical paintings on the ceiling and walls of the magnificent Salon of the Five Hundred, intended to hold meetings of the Great People's Council after the second expulsion of the Medici in 1494 from Florence, tell about the deeds of the Tuscan Duke Cosimo I.
Hall of Five Hundred
Fresco by Vasari
Fresco by Vasari
The work on decorating the hall was headed by Vasari and his students. In 1563, Vasari was commissioned to work in the famous Hall of the Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento). They destroyed every reminder of the years of republican rule, including the masterpieces created at that time "The Battle of Anghiari" by Leonardo da Vinci and "The Battle of Kashin" by Michelangelo. Vasari's works were intended to demonstrate the power and glory of the duke and his state.
The opinions of experts regarding the fate of Leonardo's creations differ.
"Cerca, trova" - "......... Try and you will find." These words on a fresco in the hall of the Grand Council of the Palazzo Signoria in Florence may be the key to unraveling the fate of one of the best creations of Leonardo da Vinci, the Battle of Anghiari, which last time seen five centuries ago.
In 1975, the Italian art historian Maurizio Seracini suggested that Leonardo's fresco was not at all in such a deplorable state as previously thought. He saw the proof in an engraving made, according to his assumption, not from cardboard, but from the fresco itself, and dated 1553. All the details of the painting are clearly visible on the engraving, therefore the “Battle of Anghiari” was in excellent condition even fifty years after its creation. Seracini was sure that Vasari, who admired the Battle of Anghiari, would never have destroyed Leonardo's work, but hid it under his fresco.
Vasari, himself great artist, who wrote a book on the history of painting, a biographer of many artists, who treated the work of Leonardo with the greatest trepidation, could not help but try to save it.
The professor believes that Vasari's fresco holds a clue. The "message" is in the inscription on the depicted military flag. The caption reads " Cerca Trova", which means "Seek and you shall find." "None of the historical sources there is no mention that the painting was destroyed, damaged, or moved to another location,” says the professor. The researcher discovered the inscription 30 years ago, but only now modern technologies allow you to look under the layers of paint of the Vasari fresco. Scientists use a neutron emitter to find the linseed oil paint used by Da Vinci.
Acoustic studies have shown the presence of a narrow (1 - 3 cm) air layer behind the wall with the "Battle of Marciano", large enough to accommodate Leonardo's fresco. Seracini suggested that Vasari did not create his fez on top of da Vinci's fresco, but simply built a new wall in front of it, thereby hiding the "Battle of Anghiari". Carrying out the reconstruction of the Great Council Hall in the middle of the 16th century, the artist and architect Vasari painted over, as it was believed until now, da Vinci's fresco with his own. At the same time, he raised the roof of the hall by 7 meters and designed top row walls. However, studies have shown that in one place between the walls a niche was left, quite sufficient in size to fit a da Vinci creation measuring 6 x 4 meters.
In 2002, the Florentine authorities banned the search for Seracini, fearing that the Vasari fresco would be damaged. However, in August 2006, it was allowed to continue the research. A special fund has been created to finance the Anghiari project. In order to conduct testing, it was decided to build a reduced model of two walls located at a small distance from each other. To create a copy, the specialists of the main institute for the reconstruction of Italy, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, had to use the materials used in the construction of the eastern wall of the Salon Five Hundred, behind which, as Seracini assumed, Leonardo's fresco was hidden. It was supposed to apply paints to the walls, which were used by Leonardo and Vasari. However, data on new discoveries are not available to date.
Now a group of scientists led by Seracini are trying to drill small holes in several parts of the wall in order to use microcameras to find out exactly what is hidden behind it.
Despite the words of the mayor of Florence that the holes were made in those places that were damaged earlier, many art historians are outraged by such indelicate methods of handling Vasari's work.
In their opinion, the likelihood that the artist left something significant behind the outer wall is extremely small, and Leonardo's fresco, according to a number of documents, was located on the opposite wall at all.
One of the restoration experts, Cecilia Frocinone, left the project for ethical reasons.
About 150 art historians from around the world have signed a petition calling for an end to the drilling of the wall, which now flaunts Vasari's fresco "The Battle of Marciano".
By drilling a hole in the outer covering, the researchers hope to reach a hidden inner wall that allegedly depicts Da Vinci's unfinished "Battle of Anghiari" mural.
The Battle of Anghiari is supposedly three times the size of The Last Supper. According to the professor, Da Vinci's work marks greatest achievement in the art world of the era early revival. If the painting is discovered, the Florentine authorities will be faced with the question of replacing the work of Vasari with the work of a brilliant artist.
Materials used
The art critic, bred under his own name in the novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, tried unsuccessfully for 35 years to make outstanding discovery. Soon we may see the disappeared masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci. It's about O famous fresco"Battle of Anghiari", which is closed by Vasari's work.
Sketch of a fresco from Rubens' album
For thirty-five years, art critics have been unsuccessfully trying to get to Leonardo da Vinci's fresco "The Battle of Anghiari" (Battaglia di Anghiari), so as not to damage the work of Giorgio Vasari's "Battle of Marciano" (Battaglia di Marciano), which closes it in any way.
In the Old Palace of Florence, known worldwide for its Italian name Palazzo Vecchio - Palazzo Vecchio, in the so-called Hall of the Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento) there is a fresco "Battle of Marciano", or "Battle of Scannagallo" (Battaglia di Scannagallo), painted by Giorgio Vasari and his students. Did the master destroy with his creation the masterpieces created by his brilliant predecessors: the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci and the episode of the Battle of Cascina (Battaglia di Cascina) by Michelangelo?
In 1568, while working on the orders of the Florentine Duke Cosimo I de Medici, Vasari allegedly did not spare Masaccio's "Trinity", painted around 1427 and located in the Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella (Santa Maria Novella). In 1861, the surviving "Trinity" (La Trinità) was found behind it, and the "Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary" (Madonna del Rosario) by Vasari was written on a false wall, which only hid, but did not destroy the work of his predecessor.
In 2000, speaking at a conference dedicated to da Vinci, the Italian researcher Carlo Pedretti suggested that Vasari did exactly the same with the fresco of Leonardo, whom he deeply revered. This idea was seized on by Maurizio Seracini of the University of California at San Diego, who since 1975, with the help of the most modern means including photography in infrared rays, x-ray and laser, looking for traces of the disappeared masterpiece.
Seracini is the only one real character, mentioned by Dan Brown in the bestselling book "The Da Vinci Code" under his real name. This ascetic of science acts in full accordance with the motto Cerca, trova- "seek and you will find", inscribed on a piece of green banner, which is carried on Vasari's fresco "Battle of Marciano", and which he did not keep silent about Dan Brown. At the same time, Seracini himself is critical of American writer, although he knows how to perfectly PR and engage in self-promotion.
In 2002, the Florentine authorities banned the study of the Vasari fresco, but after a five-year break and a change in leadership at the Italian Ministry of Culture, permission seems to have been given. However, they were again afraid to spoil an already existing masterpiece in search of a dubious find. The point of view of skeptics won again, but, as it turned out, only for a while.
Behind the 13-centimeter wall, an empty space was discovered. It was possible to penetrate there by drilling seven holes in different places frescoes, which should not suffer from interference, since it is already damaged in some places and needs to be restored. Microcameras were inserted into the holes, capable of capturing gamma radiation from the paint pigment. Behind the first hole, a one-inch hollow space was found.
The idea of discovering Leonardo's masterpiece behind Vasari's fresco has not only supporters, but also opponents. Art historian from the Frederick II University of Naples Tomaso Montanari in an interview La Repubblica not without malice remarked: “I believe that there is no work of Leonardo behind the wall, Vasari would never hide the work of the artist, whom he admired so much, in the hope that one day someone would start looking for him. A similar hypothesis could be expected from Dan Brown but not from art historians."
In the book "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550), Giorgio Vasari (Giorgio Vasari) writes that "it was decided by public decree that Leonardo was instructed to write some beautiful thing; in accordance with this, Piero Soderini, who was then a gonfalonier justice, granted him the named room.To carry out this commission, Leonardo began in the hall of the pope, in Santa Maria Novella, a cardboard with the history of Niccolò Piccinino, commander of the Duke of Milan Philippe, where he depicted a group of horsemen fighting behind a banner, a thing recognized as the most excellent and in high degree workshop because of the most amazing designs that he applied in depicting this confusion.
For it expresses rage, hatred and vindictiveness in people as strongly as in horses; in particular, two horses, intertwining their front legs, beat their teeth as the horsemen sitting on them beat because of the banner; at the same time, one of the soldiers, squeezing the banner with his hands and leaning on his shoulders, urges the horse to a gallop and, turning his face back, presses the banner pole to himself in order to force it out of the hands of the other four; and of those, two defend it, grabbing it with one hand, and with the other, raising the sword and trying to cut the shaft, and one old soldier, in a red beret, yelling, clung to the shaft with one hand, and with the other, brandishing a crooked saber, delivers a hard blow, to cut off the hands of those two who, gnashing their teeth, are trying with a proud movement to protect their banner.
And on the ground, between the legs of the horses, two figures taken in foreshortening fight among themselves, and one lies flat, and the other soldier, above him, raising his Hand as high as possible, lifts the greatest power there is a dagger above his throat, while the one lying down, fighting back with his feet and hands, does everything possible to avoid death. It is impossible to convey how diverse Leonardo painted the clothes of soldiers, as well as their helmets and other decorations, not to mention the incredible skill that he found in the forms of the outline of horses, the strength of the muscles of which and the beauty of the statue, Leonardo was able to convey better than anyone.
They say that in order to make this cardboard, he built an artificial structure, which, contracting, raised it, and expanded, lowered it. Thinking of painting on the wall with oil paints, he composed a mixture of such a coarse composition to prepare the wall, however, that when he set to painting in the aforementioned room, it began to dampen, and soon he stopped work, seeing that it was deteriorating.
The theme of Leonardo's composition, unnamed by Vasari, is believed by art historians to have been the Battle of Anghiari, which took place in June 1440 between the Florentine troops and the Milanese under the command of Niccolo Piccinino, a condottiere in the service of the Duke of Milan Philippe Maria Visconti. Vasari's description apparently refers to the central scene of the composition - dramatic episode struggle for the banner.
The time of Leonardo's work on cardboard and fresco is determined from 1503 to 1505. Neither the cardboard nor the fresco have survived, and the well-known Louvre drawing by Rubens allegedly gives an idea of them, reproduced by engraving by Edelink and conveying the Leonard original in a somewhat revised form. For Leonardo, the “Fight for the Banner” was a competition with Michelangelo, who made a fresco with an episode of the Battle of Kashin for the same hall of the Signoria Palace.
The other day it became known that fate will remain unknown.
Study at the Palazzo Vecchio. Photo: David Yoder / National Geographic / AP
An ambitious project to find a lost job has been suspended indefinitely, while the scaffolding erected at the Palazzo Vecchio will be dismantled at the end of September. IN total, for more than ten months, a team of researchers tried to find a fresco under the vaults of the former building of the Florentine Council.
To minimize damage to the Vasari fresco, seven areas were selected, already damaged by time, or already undergoing restoration, where the Italian Ministry of Culture allowed work to be carried out.
Described by the mayor of Florence as " great mystery Renaissance”, “The Battle of Anghiari” was conceived in 1503, when Leonardo and Michelangelo were commissioned to paint two frescoes on the theme of the historic Florentine victory on opposite walls of the Palazzo Vecchio. On June 6, 1505, at the age of 53, Leonardo began work on the central battle scene known as the Battle of Cassina.
In his book, Vasari mentions that Leonardo abandoned the project due to technical problems associated with his mixing experiments oil paints. Historians, however, question his conclusion. Some speculate that Vasari invented the story, and that the fresco was actually completed. And ten years later, a fresco by Vasari himself was painted on this place. And, as historians assure, da Vinci's fresco is not the only one that "dissolved" under Vasari's brush.
In 1861, the fresco "Trinity" painted by Masaccio was found in the church of Santa Maria Novella. The fresco was immured (but not destroyed) by the same Vasari, who, by order of Duke Cosima I, wrote his "Madonna with a Rosary" on top.
In 2000, at a conference dedicated to da Vinci, the idea was first expressed of the need to remove the Vasari fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio. And only in 2012 were convincing facts obtained about the possible existence of Leonardo's masterpiece under the work of Vasari. However, the researchers did not advance far ahead. To continue the work requires complex studies using XRD / XRF tomography, which are possible only in the conditions of the European Center for Synchrotron and Radiological Radiation in Grenoble, France.
In this regard, a number of scientists came to the defense of Vasari's creations. Cecilia Frosinini, director of painting at the Opificio Art Restoration Laboratory, immediately resigned in protest at the continuation of the work. “This is an ethical issue. I have to protect the work of art from destruction,” said Frosinini.
After her reaction, many art historians signed a petition demanding to stop further drilling of the fresco, some began to question the very existence of Leonardo's work under it.
“Vasari would never have destroyed the work of an artist he admired so much. This whole story is good for Dan Brown, but not for art historians,” said Tomaso Montanari, an art historian at Federico II University in Naples.
Cristina Acidini, caretaker of the Polo Museale Fiorentino, in response to a request from the research team, allowed an endoscopic examination of the seventh hole, but ruled out the possibility of further drilling. This decision caused a fierce controversy in interested circles. But in spite of everything, a few days ago, the final decision of the Italian Ministry of Culture came about the need to close up the holes in the Vasari fresco and dismantle the scaffolding. So the search ended mysterious work Leonardo da Vinci.
Anna Sidorova
